I have lost my naive belief that no one could be as crazy as their
opponents say they are so there are probably some people espousing
the views Steve mentions. However, `ethnomathematics'
I have actually seen is more of a flavor of emphasing the mathematical
background of various cultures. I did hear one lecture from a person
who had been developing a language for teaching modern (elementary)
mathematics in Maori. There were then real issues as to whether
certain concepts had names in Maori. The author was carefully
skating a line between philosophical assertions that I would find
as objectionable as Steve does and `just' talking about linguistics.
On Thu, 11 Mar 1999, Stephen G Simpson wrote:
> Vladimir Sazonov 06 Mar 1999 11:23:20
>> > > some mathematicians and math educators in the United States are
> > > now pushing the idea of ethnomathematics -- different mathematics
> > > for different ethnic groups.
> >
> > Is it serious?
>> Yes. In 1990's United States, ethnomathematics is proposed seriously,
> taught in publicly funded universities, etc. Incredible and scary,
> but it is happening.
>> > By the way, I listened that Kolmogorov gave the following joke
> > definition of woman's (in contrast to man's) logic:
>> In 1990's United States this is no joke. Feminist scholars have put
> forth a theory to the effect that `non-linear' female modes of
> reasoning are preferable to `linear' male modes of reasoning. Also,
> postmodernists attack the `logo-phallo-centric' culture.
>> -- Steve
>>>